Derby History Quiz

A Dime Novelist Who Called Derby Home

Though often listed as being from Derby, Ann Sophia Winterbotham Stephens,
was actually a native of Humphreysville
which was once a part of Derby and is now part of the town of Seymour. She
was the daughter of John Winterbotham, a manufacturer of woolen goods who
was a partner of David Humphreys.

Ann certainly made a name for herself as a prolific writer and editor. In
1831, she married Edward Stephens a newsman from Massachusetts and they
moved to Portland, Maine where she became an editor for his magazine -
Portland Magazine. She also wrote for the magazine including her first
published complete story - "The Tradesman's Daughter."

Because of Edward's poor health, they moved to New York City, and she
became editor of the Ladies' Companion,
a position she held for four years. A few year's later, she became Associate Editor of
Graham's Magazine, which had another associate editor by the name of Edgar Allan Poe!

In 1844, she became Associate Editor of
Peterson's Ladies' National Magazine. In addition to being its editor,
every year she would contribute another story in serial format commencing in
January and ending in December. From 1850 to 1852 she traveled in Europe,
where she had the opportunity to meet with writers such as Charles Dickens
and other notables such as the pope and members of the Russian imperial
family.

She resided in New York City, but spent many winters in Washington D.C.
where it is said that she was well connected with all of the presidents and
other major political figures of the time.

Some say that the most famous of her writings is
"The Old Homestead," published in New York in 1855 and broadly
performed over the next fifty years. "Malaeska," the
first of the Beadle Dime Novels, was issued in June, 1860, but was
originally one of her serials for
Peterson's. It is generally considered to be the first Dime Novel every
published.

Her writing was too prolific to list here, but suffice it to say that
this female author really left her mark on the literary world. Her old
homestead in Seymour can still be seen as part of the
Valley Heritage
Driving tour.